Lady Cats advance

Three Rivers didn’t want to give Paw Paw any thoughts of a first-round upset Monday night at the Purple Palace.

“We really wanted to make a point to statement here tonight, getting to host districts,” Wildcat coach Jason Bingaman said. “We were successful early on against them last time and it kind of took the wind out of their sails and we wanted to make sure we did that again here tonight.”

A 15-0 run to start led to a relatively easy 63-38 win and advancement to Wednesday’s second district semifinal game. Sturgis and Vicksburg get things going at 6 p.m. with the first semifinal.

“We wanted to be physical and get the ball down to our strengths,” Bingaman said. “And even though we missed some shots down (inside) in the first quarter, the first half, I was happy with our patience, for the most part, getting the ball where we needed.”

In the fourth quarter, the only thing Wildcats wondered was whether or not junior center Teagan Reeves would accomplish a first for the Lady Wildcats — hit 1,000 points in her career. She started at 975 and early in the game, passed former teammate Amy Newell as the all-time leader. With 5:58 left in the game, she hit a layup on an offensive putback to hit the mark. She then converted the three-point play after the announcement.

“I knew I was close, but I didn’t know where I was at in the game, until my brother (Blake), who’s a coach and keeps stats, told me one more point,” she said. “I was like omigosh. It was cool. The student section and everybody here cheering me on, it was awesome.”

Bingaman was pleased to see his Western Michigan-bound star hit the mark.

“She’s special and it’s a situation where all of her points are needed in a lot of our games, even in the game tonight,” he said. “She didn’t play outside of her role and that’s important. She’s our focal point offensively and when she’s playing well, it’s better for our team.”

Reeves pointed out all the help her teammates have given her.

“Thanks to all my teammates, I wouldn’t be able to do it without them, getting me the ball in the post, getting me those perfect passes,” she said.

Senior Marissa Wyngarden got the Wildcats started with a couple of putback buckets.

“We knew that they would probably come out and play a triangle-and-two against us, so we worked on our first five or six plays offensively, they were scripted on what we wanted to do,” Bingaman said. “Our focal point was to get her (Wyngarden) the ball, because she’s done a nice job the last three or four weeks, doing the dirty work that doesn’t usually show up on the stat sheet. We’re happy for her to step up and make plays early on and consistently throughout the game. She was able to find her way to the hoop.”

Reeves added eight points and Clautia Pou hit a triple, off a pass from Wyngarden, as the Wildcats opened up the 15-0 lead.

“Come tournament time, it’s always those role players that find a way to make a difference,” Bingaman said. “The ones who don’t always get the publicity. Two years ago, the reason we were successful because of three or four other girls that didn’t care about scoring and did the little things. If we can get more girls to step up and play their roles, like Marissa, we can be successful.”

Three Rivers lead 19-3 after one period and 34-10 at halftime. It was 51-27 after three quarters.

“I think we were really well rested,” Reeves said. “We had a nice, long weekend and we came back rejuvenated and ready to go. It’s going to be an exciting week.”

She finished with 27 points to lead Three Rivers.

“Her game is dictated by how well we play defensively,” Bingaman said. “When we get stops, when we rebound defensively, we’re able to get out in transition and it’s tough to focus on her when she’s running full speed down the floor and looking to find those openings.”